in Recipe 394 Words

Granny’s Chicken and Dumplings

I had been hearing about my friend Rick’s grandma’s chicken and dumplings for over a year, hoping that I would get a chance to taste this classic southern dish at some point. When Rick’s husband brings up the idea of giving up meat, Rick replies, “But how could you live without chicken and dumplings?” and that shuts him up.

So I was excited when Rick invited me over last night to help make his granny’s recipe. Although I grew up in Texas (which is geographically part of the South, but I would argue that only East Texas is culturally part of the South), I never really had southern comfort food growing up. I only just started eating greens after moving here a year and a half ago. What I’m trying to say is that I am clueless when it comes to southern cooking. Rick, on the other hand, is not clueless. He is from southern Indiana, which isn’t really part of what we think of as the South. But when you consider that the nearest city is Louisville, Kentucky, it all kind of starts to make sense. He has also introduced me to other such previously unknown dishes as persimmon pudding. Yum. At any rate, Rick learned from the best: his granny.

in progress
Making chicken and dumplings or an excuse to show off Rick’s fancy kitchen

To make chicken and dumplings, Rick starts by boiling chicken in salted water in a pressure cooker. He also adds butter to the broth. When the chicken is done, he sets it aside and keeps the broth boiling. He then tears the chicken into pieces and returns it to the pot.

Rick then adds a bit of the broth to a bowl of flour and stirs it until a dough resembling homemade playdough forms. He turns out the dough onto a floured surface and kneads it with more flour until he has a dough that can be rolled out. After rolling out the dough, he cuts it into roughly 1 x 2 in. rectangular noodles and then drops the noodles into the pot. The result is essentially chicken noodle soup, which can be served in bowls. We ate it over mashed potatoes with peas and carrots and green beans.

Granny’s chicken and dumplings

7 thoughts on “Granny’s Chicken and Dumplings”

  1. Looks a little like de-constructed pot pie! Looks yummy, no matter what you call it. I’ve only eaten bad examples of it….the kind where the dumplings are like paste and have lost their definition. Rick’s G-Ma would be proud!

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  2. Yum. That reminds me that I have a good vietnamese chicken recipe that involves boiling a whole chicken that I haven’t made in a while.

    What exactly is meant by “greens” when one is talking about southern cooking?

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    1. Leafy greens, especially collard, mustard or turnip greens. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten them the traditional way, but they’re so cheap here and pretty tasty. I’ve been getting collards in my CSA, and I just use them in recipes that call for kale. Maybe Vann has a good traditional recipe?

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  3. Mmm … and the dumpling recipe sounds really easy to scale. No salt added to the flour?

    Last time I was home, my mom made chicken and dumplings with chicken my brother raised and my mother slaughtered. It was very local, and very good.

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    1. It was really yummy. I think I forgot to mention that part! No salt added to the flour because you presumably already have enough in the broth. Rick says he adds a lot to the broth at the beginning and still usually has to add some more later.

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  4. Ooh….home raised chickens! Taste “chicken-y” as J. Child would say. Having had restaurant chicken twice last week and thinking it bore absolutely no resemblance to the chicken I grew up eating, I’ve been thinking about this. Do remember the process of getting the home grown chicken ready for the table wasn’t so pleasant – however, the yummy tasting chicken that actually had some texture was pretty dang good! The restaurant chicken has a texture that almost made you think it was processed something else designed to make you think you were eating chicken. Kind of.

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